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Sunroom Makeover

Posted by Woodward Throwbacks on
sunroom renovation

 

We started Woodward Throwbacks out of our garage six years ago.  And as it grew it grew into almost every corner of our house, including our sunroom. 

Yes the sunroom was actually referred to as the "Sanding Room" in our house.  As we used the natural light and closed quarters to process our reclaimed wood signs and bottle openers!  Oh those were the days... just kidding it sucked.  And when you have a "Sanding Room" next to your kitchen, guess what ends up in the kitchen?  Yes if ever we need to remind ourselves to be grateful we just have to look into the sunroom and be thankful no one is in there sanding boards for hours on end! 

 

As we moved the shop into a real shop down the road we never really did anything to the sunroom.  It kind of became a catch all area.  But we decided on a whim one morning that we should take a couple days and make this place somewhere we can hang out at this summer.  We had one rule, use what we have one hand and spend as little $$$ as possible!

After we cleaned the room out, Bo made a 3D model in Sketchup of what she wanted the room to look like.  

 

We had some leftover OSB subflooring from a different project so we made the banquet frame out of that.  We used our dining table chair as a reference for the seat height and back angle.  And it actually worked really well!

Last year we took a trip to St. Louis and when biking around the city we found some guys literally tearing down a building with hand tools!  So we bought all of the amazing green beadboard that they tore out.  We hadn't used it yet so we decided this would be a great project for it!  

We wanted to make sure this place was cozy and utilized all the awesome sunlight.  So the goal was to outfit it with a ton of plants!  Luckily our homies at Bloomscape came in for the win and helped boost our collection!  Thankfully? Bo had already acquired about 100 different pots and planters. 

But we wanted to add some built in raised planters too.  After searching in the garage (old shop) we found some old coffee table prototypes that never really took off.  A few years ago we had some awesome old doors that we mitered to make some wrapped style tables.  The proportions weren't quite right for tables, but we love them as planters!  Think we might have to add these back to the collection!!

We used a salvaged Maple table top that we found on a picking trip for a coffee table.  The size was literally perfect for the banquet we made.  We make a simple X style base out of a glue up table shop we had pre-made in the shop.  

As for the ceiling, well it was pretty boring and felt sterile so we wanted to add some sort of architectural element to help warm it up.  Luckily we had just done a salvage job taking out all the old 2x4 drop ceiling in an old liquor store on 8 Mile.  And we had all the furring strips left that we didn't really have a need for.  

We always say lighting is soooo important when designing a space as it helps set the vibe. We plan on having drinks with friends out here on summer nights, so it was no brainier we wanted it to be more moody. We had a ton of string lights in our basement, and thankfully they still worked! 

For the design we made an makeshift chandelier out of an old branch. Budgeting at its finest. To help break up the natural wood tones in the ceiling and add texture we sought out finding a burnt branch. So we rode around the city on our bikes looking for that right piece. It about took 2 hours of riding around the westside, but it was more like half looking for the right piece and half enjoying exploring the city - it was overall a great ride!

Once all the building was done we were able to start decorating.  We had some great vintage furniture and relics that we wanted to incorporate.  But we also wanted to have some sort of art to finish off the space and to fully encapsulate the vibe we were trying to create.  We reached out to a local artist that we love, Avery (Aisforavery on IG), to see if she had a piece that would work.  And she killed it!  

Now that this project is done we have been using it nonstop.  We think Ginger loves the banquet more than us, we keep catching her sunbathing and taking naps.  Our new routine starts and ends in the sun room now,  coffee in the morning and drinks at night. We will be forever asking ourselves why we didn't do this makeover sooner...better late then never!! RIP "Sanding Room" long live the "Sun Room"!

 

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